Today, my mom left the clean reusable I Can't Believe It's Not Butter and Cool Whip containers on the counter after unloading them from the dishwasher, and I set to work putting them away.
"We have too many," I said after several futile stacking attempts, and she agreed.
I pushed around a few more containers and found six Cool Whip containers in the back.
"Do we ever use these? We could get rid of them, you know."
Mom considered, and then said, "Well, I like them for when I make soup in the fall and winter."
Images of plastic containers in the freezer popped into my head. Then, in CSI-like quality, I could see the plastic poisons leaking into my mom's frozen soups, like cartoon neon-green poison fumes in old episodes of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles.
"Mom, I want to buy you new containers."
At first, she wondered why I would want new containers when we already have containers. I'm a chronic reuser, after all. But when I explained my fears of plastics, especially old ones, she saw what I meant.
"I mean, if you don't want to ..." I said.
"Well, I don't want cancer, either!" she said. So I set to work.
Most of the containers are recyclable #2, #4, and #5, which is great (they won't go to landfills yayy!). And some of the unlabeled lids will fit nicely under flowerpots in the potting shed. But what are we going to store Mom's soups in this winter if we get rid of all of these?
...which is what I'm researching this week. Mom remembers her mother and neighbors exchanging foods in glass canning jars, so I'll start there and see what other options I have. Stainless steel? Protected aluminum? Wood? We'll see. Stay tuned.
Glass canning jars are a great alternative for the freezer, just make sure you leave at least an inch or more of air space. Plastic expands but glass doesn't. If you don't leave air space, BOOM! You get cracked jars and a mess. For the countertop, there are attractive hermetically sealed jars. Those are the ones with the rubber gasket around the top. Places like Pier 1 and Crate & Barrel sometimes carry those. If you really want to be sustainable, look for the pizza sauce jars than are marked as Mason jars. Those are suitable for storage, canning and freezing -- just don't forget that air space!
ReplyDeleteMost websites I've found suggest filling glass jars 2/3 when you plan to freeze liquids in them. A little less airspace is necessary for solid foods (like blueberries, for example). There are some really cute glass options at Crate & Barrel and other stores I've looked at online! I'm pretty sure there are some cute options tucked in with our canning jars in the basement, too, and we can use the canning jars as we drink the grape juice out of them. (Homemade grape juice is the best...)
ReplyDeleteJust make sure that you organize your freezer well. Otherwise, you can have left all the air space you needed and still manage to cleverly open the door, dig around to find something, and watch in horrified slow-motion as a glass jar slides out and smashes into a million pieces on your cement basement floor.
ReplyDeleteOr, you know, any other floor. Not like I have personal experience or anything. :0) (PS--I know you're going to moderate this, but I figured I'd send it as a comment anyway so you'd know what I was replying to.)